Hitchens on Anderson Cooper

Cooper brings up the question that everybody wants Hitchens to answer, and I must say that it never crossed my mind. If you think he’d abandon his principles for God on his deathbed, then you either don’ t know him or think he’s been lying all along.

Cooper: In a moment of doubt, isn’t there? . . I just find it fascinating that even when you’re alone and no one else is watching, there might be a moment when you want to hedge your bets.

Hitchens: If that comes it will be when I’m very ill, when I’m half demented either by drugs or by pain and I won’t have control over what I say. I mention this in case you ever hear a rumor later on—because these things happen, and the faithful love to spread these rumors, “On his deathbed. . .” Well I can’t say that the entity that by then wouldn’t be me wouldn’t do such a pathetic thing, but I can tell you that “Not while I’m lucid, no.” I can be quite sure of that.

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No one who has read his writings or attended or watched any of his debates with religious people would expect anything less.

Although the probabilities are not good, if he is one of the lucky ones who makes it through this ordeal, his attitude of not feeling sorry for himself and looking at the illness in a rational manner will most probably have contributed to his success. Watch all the religious twits jump on that!

Another aspect that I am grateful for (I am grateful that his literary talent still shines), is that Hitchens is letting us all see what a gravely sick person looks like. We need that. We need to face up to reality, to our fragility, without caving in from fear. Make it a part of our media life, please. Kudos to Cooper, even though his veiled reference to the slimy Pascal Wager is disappointing.

The fact that fear of death is the main driver why people embrace intellectual dishonesty, self-deception, and outright lying via their god-soaked beliefs, is supported by the lame notion that religious believers obsessively and mistakenly hold that there are no atheists in foxholes and none on the death bed. Bunch of cowardly idiots.

All religious faith is, is a projection of the human family, via a sky daddy, a good mother, and and obedient son (Christian version), on the supernatural plane. It is so transparent and they are so blinkered, it is maddening.

And that is what praying is all about, to make these cowards feel better about themselves, so they can feel that they are doing something good when there is nothing to do except what Hitchens is already doing. They just can’t accept reality and their own helplessness.

Kudos to Cooper, even though his veiled reference to the slimy Pascal Wager is disappointing.

I’m glad for the reference to Pascal’s Wager. It allowed Hitchens the chance to address the ‘deathbed conversion’ thing before the lies start. This was his opportunity to make it clear that he is willing to face oblivion without regret, regardless of what lies people may tell about him later.

I am hoping he manages to beat the steep odds against him. He is one of the most memorable writers and speakers alive today, and I’d greatly prefer that it remains that way.

Preachers love to share stories about heathens or homosexuals who converted on their deathbeds. If we want to understand ultimate truths, it seems, we are asked to rely on the feelings/perspectives of the dying, poor, emotionally broken, and the indoctrinated. Healthy, stable, sane, unprejudiced people just can’t have the same insights.

One also suspects there’s a fair number who abandon their faith in extremis, realizing that it is doing absolutely nothing for them/their loved ones.* But of course, confirmation bias being what it is, these cases are ignored.

Yeah, a lot of us damaged our long term health with smokes and drink. And a lot of us who did so are, like Hitch, well-educated people who understood (essentially) the liabilities of our actions. It’s addiction. But Hitch’s line rings true for many of us” “…burning the candle at both ends gives off a lovely light.”

You weigh the benefits of smoking, drinking, sedentary life style, buying lottery tickets, snorting cocaine etc against the drawbacks and make your decision.

To the extent that you have all the information you need to make rational choice (i.e. I know that smoking causes cancer, emphysema, bad breath versus the pleasure the nicotine provides) then it can’t be an “error” as it’s a subjective decision.

Free will is an illusion.
Human behavior is shaped by many factors. Short term gratification is one of them. The desire for long term health is another.
And in every individul one or the other may carry the day.
It is not so easy to call either approach right or wrong. I tend to have a stronger desire for the long term health and my behavior is in line with that. I am also aware that unforeseen developments may thwart my desires for long term health and so the “investment” may not pay off.

All of us, I think, deliberately do things that we know will shorten our lives in favor of pleasure now. Look, we all know that the way to live the longest is constant exercise and semi-starvation, eating only roots and tubers. But few of us starve ourselves or behave this way. I, for one, would rather have the pleasure of food.

I’m so very sad for the Hitch. I wish there was anything I could do, but I know there isn’t. Except, perhaps, make it clear that I’m grateful for what I’ve learned from him, and that I do not expect him to do anything at all from now on: if he has a deathbed conversion that won’t change my gratefulness one bit.

Hitch, I wish you well: you’ve done enough to be exempt from the tiranny of other people’s expectations.

Cooper stutters through another inept attempt to deliver — like a candle facing the sun. …and, he just about burst with eagerness to serve up the ‘conversion’ chestnut, beaming his best naive ‘how couldn’t you’ catechist face. Would Gloria still be proud?

Completely off the mark. You will hardly find anyone agreeing with you. This was a sensible and interesting conversation between two intelligent men who have lived through and seen a lot and obviously have respect for each other. Something we can’t say about you in regards to AC. Cooper was the only news ancor who who always used to let Hitchens speak instead of interrupting and yelling him down like the rest did. This was not a debate or a platform for AC to get into a wit contest. The outcome is one of the few very personal interviews with Hitch that showed his human side. I like seeing a good Hitchslap but in the end that is just entertainment. This interview showed the dignity and strength he deals with with his illness and that is due to Cooper’s interview style.

I believe it was Dawkins who questioned how someone could hedge their belief in a supposedly omniscient god, merely on the chance that there is a heaven (i.e. Pascal’s Wager), and still respect that god.

[…] did not take long for rumors of a possible deathbed conversion to find their way on the internet. Anderson Cooper once asked him if there was ever a chance that one day—and in a moment of doubt—Hitchens might hedge […]